Bitcoin rises 6% to flirt with $60,000 after Fed keeps policy steady and Morgan Stanley offers crypto funds

Bitcoin rises 6% to flirt with $60,000 after Fed keeps policy steady and Morgan Stanley offers crypto funds

Bitcoin flirted with the $60,000 barrier again on Thursday after a sharp fall from record highs earlier in the week, with stimulus and institutional interest boosting the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

The bitcoin price (BTC) was up 6.3% to $58,280 at 7.20 a.m. EDT, having earlier topped $59,500.

That was off a high of close to $62,000 touched on Saturday, but well up from a low of below $54,000 hit on Tuesday. Bitcoin has risen more than 1,000% in a year.

Ethereum's cryptocurrency ether (ETH) rose to $1,850 on Thursday before slipping back to around $1,810.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said Wednesday's Federal Reserve statement had helped the cryptocurrency market.

The Fed said it planned to keep supporting the economy until employment and inflation picked up and foresaw no interest-rate rises until 2024.

Huge amounts of stimulus have been a key driver of the bitcoin boom, and "an accommodative Fed until the job is done should keep the world's largest cryptocurrency strongly supported," Moya said.

Justin d'Anethan, head of exchange sales at Diginex, said stimulus checks being sent out to Americans was another factor.

More interest from big institutions also appeared to lift the coin, with Morgan Stanley planning to offer its rich clients access to